1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector for connecting wires to a printed circuit board or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a connector for a printed circuit board which can be inserted and fitted in a mating casing, containing the printed circuit board, so as to make an electrical connection to the printed circuit board.
One such connector as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 5-36778 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 9(A) to 9(C) and 10. In this connector 100, terminals 103 each having a wire 105 connected thereto are received respectively in terminal receiving chambers 102 in a housing body 101. Each terminal 103 has a contact piece portion 104 for contact with a corresponding contact terminal of a printed circuit board when the connector is inserted and fitted in a cavity portion in a mating casing (not shown), and the contact piece portions 104 of the terminals 103 can be exposed from the housing body 101.
More specifically, a cover 106 for protecting the contact piece portions 104 is slidably mounted on the housing body 101, and when the connector 100 is fitted, the cover 106 is opened to expose the contact piece portions 104.
The connector 100 also includes a retainer 107 releasably mounted on the housing body 101.
In a provisionally-retained condition (FIG. 9(A)) in which the retainer 107 is in slightly floated relation to the housing body 101, the retainer 107 allows the terminals 103 to be inserted into the respective terminal receiving chambers 102. The retainer 107 has projections 107a for engagement with the rear ends of the respective terminals 103 in a completely-retained condition (FIG. 9(B)) in which the retainer 107 is completely received in the housing body 101. The projection 107a engages with the rear end of the terminal 103 to prevent the terminal 103 from being withdrawn rearwardly from the housing body 101. The retainer 107 has cover movement grooves 108 for receiving the cover 106 when the cover 106 is slidingly moved at the time of fitting of the connector 100, as shown in FIG. 9(C).
Therefore, in the connector 100, if any terminal 103 is incompletely inserted, the projection 107a contacts the terminal 103, so that the retainer 107 can not be shifted from the provisionally-retained condition to the completely-retained condition, and besides the cover movement grooves 108 are not disposed at their respective predetermined positions, as shown in FIG. 10. As a result, the retainer 107 prevents the sliding movement of the cover 106 mounted on the housing body 101, thus enabling this condition to be clearly detected through the terminal 103.
However, where the above connector had a multi-pole construction, and hence had an increased width (in a direction perpendicular to the sheets of FIGS. 9(A) to 9(C) and 10), there were occasions when the incomplete insertion of the terminal could not be satisfactorily detected. More specifically, in such a multi-pole construction, when the incompletely-inserted terminal was disposed particularly at a central portion of the connector, a central portion of the retainer was slightly deformed or bulged outwardly, and was shifted into the completely-retained condition, and also the cover was slightly deformed only at its central portion, and was slidingly moved. As a result, the incomplete insertion of the terminal could not be detected, so that a good connection to the printed circuit board could not be achieved.